My 1st Mother’s Day & Proof I’m Crazy

Part One of This Post: My First Mother’s Day-

Oh man Sunday was fun. In that nontraditional I’m-sure-some-other-moms-might-not-get-it way. The whole weekend was sort of an extended Mother’s Day extravaganza since we made time for visits to the farmer’s market and a Bon Air parade/festival with Clara and John on Saturday (Burger’s afraid of firetrucks and loud noises, so he skipped the parade). Then on Sunday, I was awakened by the bean who was holding a handmade card (she scribbled all over it with crayons- so cute) along with an equally sweet card from John and Burger. I was also given a printout that was entitled “The Tale Of Sherry’s First Mother’s Day” which explained that John tried to hunt down the gold Calypso for Target that he knew I had been drooling over, but they were sold out in two stores that he drove to as well as online. So he snuck onto and saw that I was also obsessed with (found on Etsy)…

… so he ordered them for me instead. Yes there was excited arm flapping. I love them so much. They kind of remind me of lemons which take me back to our wedding day. And I love that John thought to check Pinterest to find something I was obsessing over. Smart man.

Alas, my new lovely lemon earrings didn’t arrive in time to be handed over in the flesh, so a picture of them was sweetly included in my little First Mother’s Day printout along with news that John was also getting me a Mother’s Day massage to continue the tradition that he started last year when I was hugely pregnant and desperate for some prenatal massage relief. Wahoooooo. He intentionally didn’t book the massage for Mother’s Day (he told me to pick a later date because he knew I wanted to spend the whole day with Clara). Sweet, huh? Thanks hubs. For the Mother’s day rubs and the beautiful baubles.

Anyway, after my little wake-up slash card & gift fest, Clara and John and I went to Einstein Bagels (one of my favorite breakfast spots) where I got an asparagus and mushroom flatbread sammy (for two bucks with a coupon- haha). It was so delicious I can’t even say. John and Clara shared a muffin and a coffee cake in case you’re wondering (suddenly this play by play got very specific). Then we headed home for Clara to catch a nap and John parked me on Karl The Sectional to watch some delicious reality TV (Pregnant in Heels) while he went outside and got back to work on the patio. The plan was for him to work for two hours while Clara napped and then come in and shower and play with us for the rest of Mother’s Day.

Here’s where Mother’s Day veers of into the nontraditional realm. By about two hours into Project Patio it was apparent that John needed waaaaaaay more time to make progress, so I decided the best possible way to spend the day would be to play with Clara while daddy kept working on the pavers (what mom doesn’t want a finished patio for Mother’s Day?). So Clara and I played with blocks and puzzles and crayons and had some lunch and brought daddy some granola bars and even practiced walking a little bit (don’t worry, it was all assisted so John didn’t miss any true first steps). We even got outside for some fresh air and had fun on the patio while John worked away in the background.

Burger was especially excited to have some fun out there too, and it was cute to see both of “the kids” enjoying our new space- even before it was completely finished.

And about eight hours of hard hubby handiwork later, I had my Mother’s Day patio! John had completely cut all the edge pavers – he just needed to add sand between the cracks, which he planned to do on Monday (final “after” pics should be up tomorrow morning for ya, btw). And we had just enough time to enjoy a nice family dinner (burgers from Five Guys – mmmm) and then it was time to put the bean to bed and enjoy some sofa chillaxing (John wrote Monday morning’s post while we watched a criminally long episode of The Apprentice – seriously three hours is about two hours too many). But it was the best Mother’s Day ever.Part Two of This Post: Proof I’m Crazy-

I always tell you that I’m neurotic and loud and crazy but for some reason you guys don’t buy it (instead I get pinned as perfect and prissy, which are both hilariously untrue). But behold, this video pretty much proves my insanity. We were asked to chat about radon by our local news station (it was recorded a few weeks back but aired last night at 11pm on NBC12). And while John’s quotes make total sense, I shout things like “We’re gonna die tonight!” and “It sounds like aliens. Invasion!” while waving my arms around wildly. Here’s our Flip video of the TV screen (yeah, we’re high tech):

Now do you believe me? I’m nuts. We cracked up the entire time it aired (and then rewound the DVR to watch it again while cry-laughing). And for those of you at work, you can read a breakdown of the segment (complete with some nutso Sherry quotes worked in of course). Oh and there’s some cute footage of the bean in the video too, so it might be worth a watch on “mute” if you’re trying to keep your video-viewing on the down low at work.

Possibly the funniest thing that happened during the interview was that Clara started clapping for the first time. On camera. And we sort of lost it. They even sent us this “outtake” of the big moment:

If the clip above doesn’t work, here’s for ya. And yes. I’m flapping my arms and generally acting insane again. I guess that’s to be expected at this point.

Happy Mother’s Day! It was my first Mother’s Day as well (my girl is 8 weeks old) but unfortunately we live in a cardboard box apartment, searching to buy a house now (hence me reading your blog every. day. and drooling).

The husband knows how much I love gardening, so he cleaned up our smallish porch and covered it with candles, flower pots, and flower boxes along the railing! Looks like I’ve got my very own DIY this weekend!

Happy 1st Mother’s Day! It sounds like the perfect day! And I loved the nbc12 report…you are hilarious! We are good friends with the Nobles so we heard you were doing the taping…Ryan didn’t mention the Clara clapping moment though- that was amazing!!! :)

Hm. Doesn’t seem to be discussed very much over here in Germany. Need to check. Hope it’s fine here. I live in a rented apartment which makes it all the more complicated.
Don’t think my landlord would invest that much money. It’d probably be even more expensive, we don’t have crawl spaces where you can easily install foil. We have cellars, made from cement. No idea how you’d intall a radon-deflection-thingy there.

Clara’s clapping and your reactions totally made my day! I’m not sure how you managed to collect yourself to get back to business after that. I would have been giggling throughout the rest of the interview.

Love the patio too – can’t wait to see the pics of the finished product.

I’ve no idea what the exact context of that statement was, but they managed to put that in the video completely out of context to make it as confusing and odd sounding as possible. *chuckles and bonks the video editor* Oh well! ;-D

You guys totally rule!! John is trying his darnedest to be Serious Guy Being Interviewed while Clara decided to start clapping for the first time ever while mom gawks at her totally awe-struck. Thanks for sharing the fun! :D

I love how during the video John kept talking (while looking a bit distracted) after Clara clapped and you immediately looked at him as if to say “did you see that? Did you see what your daughter just did?!” So cute…

Only you could take a news story about radon and make it hilarious! Nice work. And kudos for John to using Pinterest for gift ideas – my hubs did the same a few months back for my bday. Smart guys! More should catch on.

So funny! I love your idea of Mother’s day. I celebrated my first one by tilling the garden and planting trees at our new house. I got a wheel barrow… Oh-I got to sleep in a little too, which was pretty nice:)

Cute claps! This really does bring much-needed attention to the issue… and it’s a little horrifying to think about where else I’ve lived without knowing whether or not I was being effected. Nice interview.

the quilt is fantastic! you only need to add a border to it (a turquoise or lime will look gorgeous) to look kind of professional!!! congratulations, I have had my sewing machine for more than two years and haven’t sewn anything so big yet! I’m kind of jelaous! Now that I am pregnant waiting for my girl to be born in about two weeks… I think I should try… though I have to finish her nursery first, but this is going to require more time… ahem…
Love your blog guys, I have been reading it for more than a year without leaving a single comment on it. But you inspire me continuosly, I want to make a baby book for my daughter, but in Spain is difficult to find a fabric-covered book :(

That’s a wet saw that we borrow from John’s dad (we used it to tile the bathroom in our first house, so that’s where John learned how to use it). More details about cutting the pavers and using that saw to come in our big patio reveal post tomorrow!

I had to watch the clapping video a few times b/c it made me laugh so hard. I love that John knew what happened but he was trying so hard to cover it up, and then you started snickering! That was great, so funny!